Peoria Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Possessing Fully Automatic Weapon

October 9, 2025, Peoria, IL - Yesterday, Zavon M. Knox, 22, pleaded guilty to Unlawful Use of Weapon for possessing a fully automatic weapon earlier this year. Per the plea agreement, Knox was sentenced to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Knox is one of three individuals charged with weapons offenses stemming from the same incident. Seventeen-year-old Kentrell Joiner, whose case was transferred to adult felony court in April 2025, pleaded guilty last month and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10. The case against the third defendant, Zarion Harris, remains pending.

On January 28, 2025, at around 3 p.m., officers attempted an investigative stop on a group of males at the Stop N Save in Peoria's North Valley. When officers approached the group, they fled.

Surveillance footage showed Knox throwing a black handgun into the store's dumpster before running away. The gun was recovered and found loaded with an extended magazine and equipped with an auto sear, or "switch," which converts it to a fully automatic weapon.

Joiner was found hiding behind a garbage can at a house in the 400 block of Morgan. A gun was recovered on the ground where he was hiding. That gun was also loaded with an extended magazine and equipped with an auto sear.

Harris fled inside the Stop N Save, where he was taken into custody. Surveillance footage showed him entering the store, removing a gun, and hiding it on a shelf. The gun was loaded with an extended magazine.

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